Wen to meet Obama at UN gathering in New York

Premier Wen Jiabao and US President Barack Obama will meet on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York next week, AFP reported. The planned meeting signals improving ties between the two countries after months of tensions. Wen will be in New York next week to attend both the annual UN General Assembly meeting and a special summit on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Members of the US Congress have been pushing for legislation that would require the US Commerce Department to apply punitive sanctions against China and other countries that allegedly undervalue their currencies. Still, Sino-US ties appear to be improving after several high-level meetings, including a visit to Beijing in May by US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.